Review Warns Thousands of Children at Risk in England

A national review into the death of baby Victoria has warned that thousands of children in England remain at risk due to inadequate support for parents whose children have been removed into care, potentially fueling cycles of concealment and neglect.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, in a report published Thursday, examined the circumstances surrounding the January 2023 death of Victoria, the newborn daughter of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon. The couple, who went on the run to evade social services and prevent Victoria from being taken into care like their four older children, were convicted last year of gross negligence manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child, and perverting the course of justice. Each received a 14-year prison sentence. Victoria's decomposed remains were discovered on March 1, 2023, inside a shopping bag in an allotment shed in East Sussex, after police ended a weeks-long nationwide search for the family.

Marten, 38, and Gordon, 51, had traveled extensively across England from late 2022, living off-grid in a tent on the South Downs during bitterly cold winter conditions. Born on Christmas Eve 2022 in secret, Victoria died...